I remembered Storaro talking about "jumbo" lights and,
doing a bit of research, found in his book "Writer of Light"
the following:

"On Bulworth, Storaro, used so-called "Jumbos"--large,
multi-globe frames with 16 28-volt landing lights each--and a whole
range of "Mini-jumbos" in diminishing sizes, as well as
a series of "Tornado" lights using 120-volt Fay globes.
They all run on 220 volts and are always pre-rigged to be dimmable
with his small, state-of-the-art digital panels. "Jumbos"
provide incredible punch outdoors. At great distances they become
"puntiform" sources, except that, unlike conventional
Fresnels, the arrays can be spread out horizontally. Vittorio's
gaffer, Gary Tandrow, says, "They are only 10K each, but put
out as much [light] as two or three Xenons. The bang for the buck
is unbelievable.

"All of his lighting instruments on the film were made by Filippo
Cafolla, at Iride SRL in Rome, as were the original versions Vittorio
ordered many years ago."

FWIW, back in the days when I was working rock 'n roll, the big
rock 'n' roll lighting houses all had ACL's for rent (ACL for Aircraft
Landing Lights) These were PAR64 VNSP globes (clear front lens)
with 28 volt filaments (which are very compact)

I think hey were set up with series 5-fers (so that 5 would burn
in series on regular 110volt dimmer.)

If you can get 12 light Maxi-brutes, you can use the fixture to
hold the globes (which fit in any fixture designed for PAR 64's)
and wire them 4 in series (if you want to live dangerously) or 5
in series if you want longer lamp life. and off you go. (If you
go 4 in series, I would suggest going with a dimmer and restricting
the voltage to 114v or so since 28v x4 =112v)

Try calling See Factor in New York or some of the bigger theatrical
lighting houses to see if they still carry the globes. Make up the
series wiring harnesses yourself.

If you can get a Dino Light (24 PAR 64 lamps in a frame) you could
use that...remember you can't use any of the fixtures built in wiring
but have to make up your own wiring.

You can only turn the lights on and off in groups of 4 this way.

Note: if this proves too expensive or difficult, try using the newer
1200w. VNSP globes in regular Maxi Brutes - unlike older 1k PAR
64's, the filament is not running sideways in a big envelope and
the beam pattern is more compact - closer to an ACL.

You might look at using the ETC PAR64 replacement fixtures built
into a frame - if you use them without diffusing lenses, they will
probably act very much like ACL's and even more efficiently,. but
with some risk if it rains. I do not know if they come with clear
lenses.

Mark Weingartner
erstwhile gaffer (current VFX dp/suprvisor)
LA based

Mark,

A lot of what you say makes sense. The Jumbos work in much the same
way (at least to my understanding).

What separates these fixtures from Dinos is that they look to be
much easier to move around and manipulate. As we all know, Dinos
can be heavy and awkward.

I like the idea of individual globe switching. Another factor to
consider is that dimmers tend to make noise and the larger the dimmer,
the more noise, in my experience.

However, never having my hands of any of these Jumbos (but hoping
to soon) I will reserve judgement until I can see them in action.

Many thanks to all for your thoughts and research.

Andrew Gordon
Gaffer
Regina, Saskatchewan
Canada

>Okay, now we know what a Jumbo
is. Let's work on "puntiform"

I would also like to ask if anyone has heard of the Alchemy range?

I have been asked to supply 2000W, 1200W and 6000W Alchemy. I have
never heard of this range and a search on the net proved fruitless.

Okay, it's what I thought, a relatively small source. When the Jumbo
is far enough away it's small relative to the subject. Don't know
where he got puntiform, but it might come in handy for Scrabble
so long as you aren't challenged....

An astronomer friend says it refers to any large light source that
because of its distance, appears to all practical purposes to be
a point source. A star -- celestial not movie -- is the example
he used. Stars can be enormous, but at astronomical distances they
appear to be points.

Brian Heller
IA 600 DP

Wonder which lights were used on Terry Gilliam's film "Brazil"
on the eerie "Ministry of information" scenes-perhaps
the Aircraft landing lights Mark was speaking of-or perhaps spotlights
or carbon arc(maybe a brute, ?)

>I like the idea of individual
globe switching. Another factor to consider is >that dimmers
tend to make noise and the larger the dimmer, the more >noise,
in my experience.

The only way you can have individual globe switching is if you feed
them 28v. instead of seriesing them up to line voltage.

If you are using transformers, you are talking about some big f*#kin'
transformers, and big fat power cables - remember voltage drop goes
up as line voltage goes down

Mark Weingartner
LA

G'day Andrew...

The "Jumbo" is very much as has been described. Incredibly
bright, focuses similar to a Ruby 7 and come in both horizontal
and circular configurations. I liked the "Ruby 7" as it
could be focused, better option than a Dinette (1/2 Dino) in my
opinion.

It would be great to get some feed-back as to what you think of
the "Jumbo" from a Lighting Techs perspective.

I don't know about you but I get such conflicting reports about
lamps and their abilities, from people who see them (I won't mention
D.O.P's) but don't have to cart them around or try to gel or diffuse
them on a daily basis...

If a light takes ten guys to lift and is virtually impossible to
rig, it has to do something pretty special before I will recommend
it. Or someone says, such and such a lamp is much more punchier
than a Xenon...and you think wow...I've had 4K Xenons, scorch things,
burn things and set fire to things on Stages, don't know if I want
anything punchier. Or a tungsten lamp that puts out more Lumens/watt
than the equivalent wattage HMI fixture, and you think boy that
must have some impressive optics as it should be like comparing
a 40 watt prac to a 40 watt fluoro in light output.